Forum reconsiders nuclear as energy solution

Joshua Goldstein led the May 11 Salisbury Forum.
Patrick L. Sullivan
Joshua Goldstein led the May 11 Salisbury Forum.
SALISBURY — The solution to the problem of providing sufficient energy without burning fossil fuels and increasing already dangerous levels of greenhouse gas emissions is obvious, according to Joshua Goldstein.
That solution is nuclear power.
Goldstein spoke at the Salisbury Forum, held Saturday evening, May 11 at the Salisbury School.
He is the co-author of “A Bright Future” (2019), co-wrote the 2022 Oliver Stone film “Nuclear Now,” and is professor emeritus of international relations at American University.
He began by noting he has a two-year old granddaughter, who he expects will live through all of the remainder of the 21st century and possibly into the next.
He said he asks himself how well society is “setting it up” for the child.
The answer: “Not very well.”
Goldstein said that attitudes toward nuclear power are based on decades-old beliefs that are simply untrue.
Under “Scary,” Goldstein pointed to popular culture, from 1950s monster movies in which seemingly innocuous creatures became city-crushing giants after a dose of radiation, through the 1979 film “The China Syndrome” (released 12 days before the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in Pennsylvania), to the three-eyed fish that makes frequent cameos in “The Simpsons.”
Goldstein said that the statistics about accidents at nuclear power facilities “all come from one incident, Chernobyl” (in 1986 in Ukraine, then part of the USSR).
Nuclear power’s waste products are regarded as “dirty.” Goldstein said in fact the fuel used for nuclear reactors is highly concentrated, and the waste from traditional plants can be and is now being safely stored.
Newer plants produce less radioactive waste than the old models, and some processes even allow the waste to be reused.
He said the waste storage problem is not as bad as it’s made out to be. It’s not even close.
“The waste from all U.S. nuclear power plants would fit in a Wal-Mart.”
Under the heading “dangerous,” Goldstein said the primary problem at Chernobyl was the design of the facility did not include containment.
Radiation did indeed spread throughout Europe after the accident, but only the immediate area suffered from deadly levels.
Goldstein said the 2011 accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, caused by a tsunami and earthquake, resulted in zero deaths from radiation, but tens of thousands of deaths from the subsequent flooding and destruction, not to mention the “botched evacuation.”
Making the situation worse, Japan then shut down all its nuclear plants and switched to burning coal, thus contributing to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.
“But we think of it as a nuclear accident.”
Nuclear power is criticized as being slow and expensive to deploy, but Goldstein pointed out that France went to a largely nuclear-powered grid in 15 years in the 1970s and 1980s.
“It’s the fastest way to get clean energy into the grid.”
Goldstein noted that nuclear power is often associated with nuclear weapons, but “they are not connected.”
The processes used for nuclear power and nuclear weapons are very different, and having the first does not mean a country can suddenly switch gears and produce the second.
Goldstein said new reactor technology allows for small facilities, or microreactors, to be built quickly and cheaply, requiring two to three years, seven acres of land and less than $1 billion.
“No scary cooling tower.”
He likened conventional wisdom about nuclear power to someone who, when confronted with a house fire, hides under the bed.
“We have to come out from under the bed.”
The “Nuclear Now” film co-written by Goldstein and Oliver Stone is available on the Salisbury Forum website for free until May 19. Go to www.salisburyforum.org/ for details.
Built in 1820, 1168 Bangall Amenia Road sold for $875,000 on July 31 with the transfer recorded in August. It has a Millbrook post office and is located in the Webutuck school district.
STANFORD — The Town of Stanford with nine transfers in two months reached a median price in August of $573,000 for single family homes, still below Stanford’s all-time median high in August 2024 of $640,000.
At the beginning of October there is a large inventory of single-family homes listed for sale with only six of the 18 homes listed for below the median price of $573,000 and seven above $1 million.
July transfers
79 Ernest Road — 4 bedroom/2.5 bath home on 6.87 acres in 2 parcels sold to Matthew C. Marinetti for $1,225,000.
29 Drake Road — 3 bedroom/3.5 bath home on 2 acres sold to Harper Montgomery for $850,000.
6042 Route 82 — 4 bedroom/2 bath home on 1.09 acres sold to Spencer Thompson for $795,000.
125 Tick Tock Way — 3 bedroom/2.5 bath ranch on 1.9 acres sold to Fleur Touchard for $475,000.
August transfers
102 Prospect Hill Road — 3 bedroom/2 bath home on 6.35 acres sold to Karl Creighton Pfister for $565,000.
252 Ernest Road — 2 bedroom/1 bath cottage on .85 acres sold to Meg Bumie for $465,000.
1196 Bangall Amenia Road — 4 bedroom/2.5 bath home on 2.16 acres sold to Roderick Alleyne for $875,000.
Hunns Lake Road (#759929) — 59.1 acres of residential land sold to Argos Farm LLC for $3,325,000.
* Town of Stanford recorded real estate transfers from July 1 to August 31 provided by Dutchess County Real Property Office monthly transfer reports. Details on each property from Dutchess Parcel Access - properties with an # indicate location on Dutchess Parcel Access. Market data from One Key MLS and Infosparks .Compiled by Christine Bates, Real Estate Advisor with William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty, Licensed in Connecticut and New York.
Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office Harlem Valley area activity reportSept. 18 to Sept. 30.
Sept. 23 — Deputies responded to 1542 State Route 292 in the Town of Pawling for the report of a suspicious vehicle at that location. Investigation resulted in the arrest of Sebastian Quiroga, age 26, for aggravated unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle in the third degree. Quiroga to appear in the Town of Pawling court at a later date.
Sept. 30 — Deputies responded to Woodside Street in the Town of Pine Plains for a past-occurred verbal domestic dispute between a stepfather and stepson.Matter resolved without further police intervention.
PLEASE NOTE:All subjects arrested and charged are alleged to have committed the crime and are presumed innocent until proven guilty and are to appear in local courts later.
If you have any information relative to the aforementioned criminal cases, or any other suspected criminal activity please contact the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office tip line at 845-605-CLUE (2583) or Emaildcsotips@gmail.com.All information will be kept confidential.
Hunt club members and friends gathered near Pugsley Hill at the historic Wethersfield Estate and Gardens in Amenia for the opening meet of the 2025-2026 Millbrook Hunt Club season on Saturday, Oct. 4. Foxhunters took off from Wethersfield’s hilltop gardens just after 8 a.m. for a hunting jaunt around Amenia’s countryside.
Joining in the fun at the dedication of the new pollinator pathway garden at The Millbrook Library on Saturday, Oct. 4, local expert gardener Maryanne Snow Pitts provides information about a planting to Lorraine Mirabella of Poughkeepsie.
MILLBROOK — Participating in a patchwork of libraries that have planted pollinator pathway gardens to attract insects and birds to their native plantings was one of the accomplishments being celebrated at the dedication of a new pollinator garden at the Millbrook Library on Saturday, Oct. 4.
“A lot of work went into it,” said Emma Sweeney, past President of the Millbrook Garden Club, who started the local library’s initiative two years ago.
The Pollinator Pathway program is a national effort to plant native plants that native insects depend upon for sustenance and preferred plants for their own seasonal reproduction.
Jana Hogan of Ridgefield, Connecticut, Executive Director of the Pollinator Pathway program, was on hand to present a plaque to the library for its successful participation.
“A garden is not just a garden,” said garden designer Andy Durbridge of Wassaic, designer of the library’s garden. “It may serve as a model for other gardens along the line.”
Speaking to the 50 visitors at the dedication, Durbridge said that the library’s garden has a mission, that it is a working garden, planned to serve insects and birds over their seasons. The earliest plants support pollinators, while the full range of plants continues to serve the needs of those they attract, offering habitat, shelter and food.
A pollinator garden is akin to a prairie, rather than a formalized European garden, Durbridge noted.
The garden project was supported by the library’s Friends group using funds raised during the Holiday Silent Auction and ongoing book sale. A grant from the Millbrook Garden Club also provided support.